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Increased security here can’t bog us down

Five-star Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel on the waterfront in Mumbai, India, is as breathtaking today as it was 10 years ago — before Pakistani gunmen armed with assault rifles stormed in, opening fire on hotel guests and staff.

The Nov. 26, 2008, hotel assault was just part of several coordinated terrorist attacks on the heart of India’s financial capital, a city of nearly 20 million people. More than 160 people died in the three-day, city-wide carnage a decade ago this week, and hundreds more were wounded. The terrorists targeted a crowded train station, tourist restaurant, Jewish center and two luxury hotels — including the iconic Taj Mahal Palace, owned by a subsidiary of India-based Tata Group, which also owns Warren’s Thomas Steel Strip and a multitude of other companies spanning the globe.

Taj Mahal Palace was the epicenter of the attack.

“Taj Mumbai is not just a hotel. It’s a landmark, a monument itself. It was an attack on Mumbai,” Puneet Chhatwal, managing director and CEO of Tata-owned Indian Hotels Company, said in an Associated Press article last week written to mark the 10-year anniversary.

Planners of the attack also may have included the Taj Mahal Palace because of its location overlooking the “Gateway of India.” That’s Mumbai’s most-visited monument that sits on the waterfront of the Arabian Sea in southern Mumbai greeting visitors who arrive by boat.

Four years ago, as a guest of Tata Group, I traveled with other American journalists to India. I visited the Gateway of India monument, stayed several days in the breathtaking Taj Mahal Palace hotel and toured the site of the 2008 attacks where 31 people died inside the hotel. We were told the opulent interior had been destroyed, not just by the spray of bullets and carnage, but by explosions set by the terrorists and fires left to burn.

The significance of the 26/11 attack (as it has become known in India) often is looked upon in that country much like Americans view the 9/11 attack here. Although, by comparison, the death toll varies significantly, each was an orchestrated terror attack on multiple national landmarks intended as an assault on the nation as a whole.

During my visit, I recall few visible signs of the assault in the now restored century-old Taj Mahal Palace hotel. Inside its lobby, only a minimally designed memorial fountain bears the victims’ names, alongside a tree of life.

But other intrusive symbols of the attacks have developed.

Following the November 2008 attacks, hotel security was drastically stepped up. I vividly recall my arrival to India. Exhausted following the 17-hour flight, we were whisked by car to the hotel in the wee morning hours only to be greeted by the daunting sight of armed guards and metal detectors at the hotel entrance. All baggage was sent via conveyer belts through sophisticated x-ray scanners into the hotel lobby.

During my 10-day stay, I experienced the scenario often, once even being routed through a metal detector just to get the latte I craved at a downtown Mumbai Starbucks.

That may sound excessive, but likewise, Americans now have come to expect metal detectors and bag checks, not just when we are traveling, but each time we enter any large venue for a concert or sporting event.

Do these post-attack actions challenge our convenience? Sure, they do. But do they make us safer? Probably.

Most residents in India and America now have raised awareness. We are more conscious of the people around us, but we move on.

We never forget, but we don’t — we can’t — let it bog us down.

blinert@tribtoday.com

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